Thanksgiving, Comunisum with hard line Capitalists

When you asked us to recount our thanksgiving and discuss how we use different leadership techniques at different times I laughed. Leadership at our "family" gathering seems nonexistent, however it is not chaos. My family and the people we spend Thanksgiving are a bunch of strays cut from the same block. We all only have immediate family near us. For my family it is due to our immigration from Europe, others are from moves accross the country and some just don't have any family that is still alive. The age range is mixed from 25 to 85 yet we have a lot in-common and widely different views at the same time. Most of us have either worked in business for most of our lives or are working on/have MBAs, yet some are hard line republicans, and others are on the other side of the spectrum. Yet when we get together, we work as a well oiled machine and enjoy ourselves.

Everyone works equally hard, and the meal would not come together if anyone slacked off. There are tough jobs from mixing drinks, to deep frying turkeys and making the sides, and with 15+ running in and out of the kitchen, no one gets hurt and nothing usually gets burnt. It is strange because we are all on the same level even though our skills and experiance are so different.

When I looked back on this, and then reviewed how others view me in leadership roles, something clicked. The reason people see me as middle of the road is because I have learned to adapt and this is something that occurs at our thanksgiving. Every year our duties change and no one complains, we just get it done. At work, voulunteering or in class, I like to read the group I am in and take an educated guess. If that educated guess doesn't work, step back, listen and see what happens next.

I don't want to force something because as i learned helping a friend move in... if the couch doesn't fit through the door, pushing harder will only rip the door frame out. Leading, unless you can wrangle a small country under your control and have no qualms making people dissapear, takes finesse and is as much about observing as it is ordering. So, I would say that I think I am adaptive, and I just need to learn how to adapt better/quicker!